美国红色保守阵营的绿色环保领袖

重建绿色快乐驿站

位置：路易斯安那州新奥尔良

    杜兰大学（Tulane University）建筑学院的院长肯尼思•施瓦兹表示，新奥尔良可以说是一个“三位一体”的城市。“三位一体”是指三个特征——美食、好听的音乐和伟大建筑——即新奥尔良的三张名片。

    施瓦兹希望，以建筑为出发点，启动绿色倡议，把杜兰大学的建筑物作为新奥尔良其他建筑的典范。新奥尔良市并非共和党的大本营。事实上，在卡特里娜飓风过后，新奥尔良市曾为争取灾后重建支持而不懈斗争。

    施瓦兹促成了杜兰大学与国际商务机器公司（IBM）的合作，为大学的百年建筑理查德森纪念馆（Richardson Memorial Hall）重新铺设电线，并利用最先进的技术来监测建筑的光、电和能源使用情况。作为建筑专业学生的实体研究设施，该纪念馆使学生们能够利用系统产生的数据，更好地了解传统建筑中能源的使用情况。理查德森纪念馆将被认证为LEED铂金奖，这是能效建筑的最高奖项。

    施瓦兹表示，这一铂金认证“不是一块简简单单的牌匾。我们希望通过它能够表明，历史性建筑和21世纪的新建筑能一样实现绿色节能。”

    他表示，路易斯安那州的环保不分党派。“公众了解、也喜欢他们居住的环境，”因此，他们支持对现有建筑的改造——保持建筑的外观完好无损，同时又能降低能耗。

    施瓦兹希望能通过杜兰大学颁发可持续建筑开发硕士学位，以便更好地宣传这一理念。

Rebuilding a greener Big Easy

Location: New Orleans, La.

    New Orleans has something of a holy trinity, says Kenneth Schwartz, dean of Tulane University's architecture school. He's referring to the three attributes -- great food, great music, and great architecture -- that make up the fundamentals of the city's identity.

    Schwartz wants to use architecture as a jumping-off point to launch green initiatives, using Tulane's buildings as an example for the rest of the city. While New Orleans isn't a particularly red city, it has struggled to get the resources needed to rebuild post Katrina.

    Schwartz helped seal a partnership between Tulane and IBM that will rewire a century-old building on campus, Richardson Memorial Hall, with cutting-edge technology that can monitor the building's lighting, power, and energy usage. The building will function as a living research facility for architecture students who can use the data generated to learn about energy in old buildings. It's also going to be certified as LEED Platinum, the highest standard of energy efficiency.

    The platinum certification, Schwartz says, will be "more than just a plaque on the wall. We're hoping to demonstrate how a historic building can operate as 21st century architecture."

    That's a goal that, in Louisiana, isn't split by party lines, Schwartz says. "The public knows and loves the place where they live," and can therefore get behind retrofitting existing buildings -- keeping the building's integrity intact while cutting energy costs.

    Schwartz intends to spread this message even further by offering a master's degree in sustainable real estate development at Tulane.